Things are not always as they seem, and in the past couple of years that’s been the case for both Republican and Democratic nominees. Sometimes a candidate doesn’t live up to his or her potential or misleads the party in some way. Former party leaders say that could come down to the vetting process or the lack of one.
Democrat Ed FitzGerald’s race for governor in 2014 started spinning out of control when the public found out he had gone for years without a driver’s license.
And on Election Night this year, Republican House nominee Cassandra McDonald announced that she was actually a Democrat at heart.
Former Ohio Republican Party chair Kevin DeWine says there’s not as much vetting of candidates behind the scenes as people might think.
“While our job as party chairmen is to identify the best candidates most likely to win who are going to stand up for the principles and ideals of our party it doesn’t mean you can convince somebody to not run who maybe doesn’t fit that mold,” said DeWine.
DeWine says most of the vetting comes from the local voters when these leaders get their start running for lower offices.